Ex-army court chairman Brig. Rwehururu dies

By Mary Karugaba

Former General Court Martial chairman retired Brig. Bernard Rwehururu has died, his family says.

Details on the cause of his death are scanty but his relatives said the army man breathed his last on Friday in Jinja Hospital.

One of his sons, John Birantana, said Rwehururu has been battling diabetes and hypertension for some time.

“He was always sick but never down. He was suffering from hypertension and diabetes. However two days ago, he was admitted in Jinja hospital where has passed away from,” he said.

Birantana described his father as a career soldier who loved his country and the family. “He was a soldier in the army but a loving father at home.”

Rwehururu has died three months after the death of his eldest son (Paul Rwehururu) and one year after the demise of his father (Nathan Kyamwonyo).

Paul died in November last year while Kyamwonyo passed away earlier in February the same year.

“The family is going through a tough time. Brigadier has been suffering from diabetes and had a stroke at some time,” says William Beijukye, who is the fallen army man’s son-in-law.

Beijukye remembers him as a gentle, simple and courageous man who served the country genuinely.

‘Never rot’

Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, said Brig. Rwehururu loved the truth and spoke his mind through his book ‘From the cross to the gun’.

“I remember him as someone who spoke his mind. He saw that Uganda had changed and wrote a book. I encourage other officers also to write because a written word can never rot.”

Brig. Rwehururu can well be described as a fallen soldier who had seen it all after spending more than 48 years serving in the army.

According to his family, he what inspired Rwehururu to pen ‘From the cross to the gun’ was the fact that the brigadier had wanted to be a priest all his life but fate had a different plan.

Courageous man

According Beijukye, the late Rwehururu joined the army in 1965, three years after Uganda had attained independence.  When Milton Obote’s regime was over thrown in a coup by Idi Amin, Brig. Rwehururu continued serving but under Amin.

Beijukye says he was one of the very few officers not from West Nile who fought for Amin until they were defeated.

It is understood that under his command, Brig. Rwehururu stalled the Tanzanian advance until the commander of the Tanzanian 205 Brigade was replaced by another officer.

“Because of his courage, he was the man heading the brigade that first caused the wrath of the Tanzanian soldiers. Fortunately he made it alive,” Beijukye says.

 However after the fall of Amin, he fled to Sudan and later to Zaire (now DR Congo). 

When Obote II was over thrown, he returned from exile and was integrated into the National Resistance Army (NRM) of President Yoweri Museveni.

Since 1986, he has also been serving in different capacities in the UPDF. He was lastly commandant of Kabamba Army Training School, which is one of the most respected infantry training schools in the country.

Before Kabamba Military School, Beijukye says the fallen soldier was also a military attaché at the Uganda High Commission in Kenya.

In 2009, he was appointed the chairman of the General Court Martial in Makindye where he served for two terms.

He retired in 2013 at the level of chief advisor to the then Army commander Gen. Aronda Nyakairima. Nyakairima could not be reached for comment.

Rehema Kaddu, a relative of Rwehururu’s says there will be a requiem mass at Nsambya Catholic Church.

The fallen brigadier will be buried at his ancestral home in Ruhoko, Ntungamo district on Sunday.